Rocker panels of such motor vehicle bodies contribute to the safety of the occupants in the event of a crash. For this purpose, it is necessary for the rocker panels to be led as close as possible to a wheel of the motor vehicle, in order to dissipate impact energy as early as possible. In addition, the ends of the rocker panels are to be protected from penetration of dirt and moisture. The terminus part is provided for this purpose.
A motor vehicle body of the type cited at the beginning is known, for example, from DE 10 2006 014 963 A1. In this motor vehicle body, a hollow profile is closed by a seal unit. The seal unit has a frame spaced apart from the inner side of the hollow profile. A wall seal, which is formed by an expanding foam seal, is situated between the frame and the inner side of the hollow profile. The frame is adapted to the cross-section of the hollow profile using the expanding foam seal. The seal unit has pivotable flaps to ventilate the hollow profile. In this way, the motor vehicle body has a very complex construction at the ends of the rocker panels. The fixing of the seal unit in the hollow profile upon the generation of the expanding foam seal additionally proves to be very difficult.
Furthermore, a seal for a hollow profile is known from DE 100 49 226 A1, in which a tube situated therein generates continuous ventilation. This seal has a peripheral flange which is glued into a hollow profile. The precise positioning of the seal in the tube proves to be very difficult.
However, the known motor vehicle bodies have the disadvantage that the terminus part manufactured from plastic is complex to install and does not contribute to an increase of the stability of the rocker panel in the event of a crash.
The invention is based on the problem of refining a motor vehicle body of the type cited at the beginning so that it allows the earliest possible introduction of forces into the rocker panel in the event of a crash.